


Between the Two of Us

by emperorpenguin (dortmundbvbbabe)



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:54:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26074495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dortmundbvbbabe/pseuds/emperorpenguin
Summary: Leon and Matt are rivals on the ice but a couple off the ice, but at the All-Stars game, Leon gets a little too caught up in the Battle of Alberta and ends up regretting a few things that he tells reporters.
Relationships: Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk
Comments: 11
Kudos: 142





	Between the Two of Us

Sometimes Matt didn’t understand the limits of their relationship. Which was usually okay, but sometimes when they played against each other, Matt was too wild and careless which pissed Leon off. Matt had the nonchalant, no-holds barred attitude of a professional hockey player that completely divorced on-ice fights with personal grudges off the ice. It was a game. It was a game they all played and he always expected Leon to feel the same way.

That was mistake number one. Leon didn’t feel the same way. It wasn’t easy for him to turn off the on-ice frustrations and to be able to grab dinner with a rival. Matt had stunned him after the second time that they played each other. He’d cornered him after the game, a loss for the Oilers, when Leon was in a bad mood, and grabbed his arm. 

Leon had been expecting a fight, but Matt had looked at him with a hint of shyness and nervousness that seemed misplaced. “Do you want to grab a drink?” Matt had asked.

There was a moment where Leon was waiting for the other shoe to drop. But his parents had raised him to be polite and Matt had appeared sincere and Leon hadn’t had an excuse not to, so he found himself in some Edmonton bar across from Matthew Tkachuk. 

“Can you relax a little?” Matt had asked him as he sat, turned towards Leon with a beer in his hand. 

“I just- am I reading this wrong?” Leon asked.

“How are you reading it?” Matt asked.

“As a date,” Leon said.

“I mean, that’s what I wanted,” Matt replied.

“Oh,” Leon said. For a moment Matt’s face fell, “That’s not a bad thing, I just, why me?” 

Matt grinned, “You’re hot, I’m hot, I’m gay, you’re not straight…” 

Leon rolled his eyes and took another sip of his beer. The way that Matt described it was so simple, almost mathematical in the way that a casual hookup would be. But Matt was also nervous in a way that suggested it was more than just a casual hookup. And Matt was right, Leon wasn’t straight, not that it was a well-kept secret either in the league. 

“I didn’t know you were gay,” Leon said.

“Now you do, so what do you want to do with that information?” Matt asked in a flirtatious way. Shortly thereafter, they left the bar together and Leon took him back to his home. The door had barely closed behind them before Leon pressed Matt up against the wall and kissed him. “You’re so hot,” Leon said as he trailed kisses down the side of Matt’s neck. Matt pulled on Leon’s hair coaxing him to move lower and fiddled with Leon’s belt, trying to get them undressed as quickly as possible. 

“I knew you were checking me out earlier,” Matt said cockily, but Leon shut him up with another kiss and he pushed him back into the bedroom.

It was hot and fiery and lasted all too short for Leon’s liking. Matt fucked the same way that he played, competitively and with the same type of follow-through as his checks. But shortly after they finished, Matt collected his clothes and got dressed while Leon still lay in bed. 

“Thanks, that was fun,” Matt said, and for a moment it seemed like what had happened would end there. “You know, you’re in Calgary in three weeks. We should do this again.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Leon said. And for the first time, he found himself excited to be playing against Calgary. One night had turned into two and then slowly they grew into a rhythm with each other. Matt had disarmed him with his playful grin and the way that jokes, sometimes at his expense, rolled off of him. Off ice, Matt was Leon’s type, he was the cocky, playful, kind guy that was so contrary to his on-ice persona. But that was part of the problem. Matt was almost a chimera with two sides to him, one that Leon grew to love and the other that remained Leon’s rival. They saved up as much time as possible together, on rare off days one would usually make the three-hour drive to the other’s city. Then Matt flew out to spend All-Stars weekend with Leon and Leon flew to St. Louis after the Oilers were eliminated from the playoffs and then they both went to Germany to meet Leon’s parents. Matt had carved a spot in Leon’s life where Leon was sure that he was the love of his life. 

But on the ice, Matt wasn’t Leon’s problem, he was Zack Kassian’s and so long as that was the case, it was easier for Leon to home with him and compartmentalize Matt as his boyfriend and partner and not as his rival.

But, Matt had had a bad hit on Connor and that pissed Leon off. There’d been a tacit agreement, or so Leon had thought between him and Matt. Brady was off limits and Connor was off limits. That was their person, the one person that got a pass from the heavy hits or having gloves dropped. Matt, though, had slammed Connor into the boards the last time they played against each other and that had pissed Leon off. Because for as much as he loved Matt off the ice, sometimes he couldn’t stand him on the ice. 

It was the narrative that they had to sell as part of the Battle of Alberta and Matt took it lightly. It was a game, sometimes people got hurt, and though unfortunate, it was part of the game. But Leon was a little more involved in the Battle of Alberta, it was personal for him even if his boyfriend was on the other side. 

So when they were both named to the All-Stars game in St. Louis, Leon knew he’d have to answer questions about Matt. Matt was just happy to be there, excited to spend time with Leon and his family and show him the city that he grew up in. But the hit on Connor was still fresh in Leon’s mind and the Battle of Alberta hadn’t stayed in Edmonton for him the way that it had stayed in Calgary for Matt. 

“How would you feel if you were put on a line with Matthew Tkachuk this weekend?” Leon was asked in the press conference.

He smirked, “I’d probably get off the ice.”

He didn’t think anything of it until he joined the rest of the Pacific Team for dinner and Matt wouldn’t even look at him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, wondering if something had happened with Matt’s dad while he was good.

Matt’s jaw just clenched, “I’m fine.” It was clear that Matt wasn’t fine and Leon tried not to be hurt by the way that Matt was so clearly engaged in a conversation with David Rittich and barely paid him any attention.

Leon gently trailed his fingers down Matt’s wrist underneath the table, but Matt quickly pulled away. That was the first clue that whatever Matt was upset about involved him.

Leon followed Matt up to the room that they were sharing when Matt excused himself from dinner early, the anxiety of not knowing what was wrong and by extension not knowing how to fix it. 

“What’s wrong?” Leon asked as Matt sat on the edge of the bed. 

“Did you mean it?” Matt said.

“What?” Leon asked. 

“That you didn’t want to play with me?” Matt asked.

Leon froze, “I love you, you know that, of course, I want to play with you.”

“Then why did you say that?” Matt asked.

“We say that sort of stuff all the time, it’s part of the rivalry,” Leon said.

“I don’t. I never do that,” Matt said, “Because I love playing with you or even against you.”

“Did I hurt your feelings?” Leon asked.

And despite Matt’s usual bravado, the walls came down, “Yeah, it just felt like you really meant it, that you didn’t want to be here with me or play with me.”

Leon sat down next to him and gently cupped Matt’s face towards his own. “Matt, you’re the only one I want to play with here. I should have said that I was excited to play with you because you’re the only one who really matters here.”

“I mean, don’t do that,” Matt flushed, but a faint hint of a smile was there. 

Leon kissed him, “Tomorrow, I’m going to set you up for the most beautiful goal out there if we get to play together.”

Leon pushed him back against the bed and lay on top of him, waiting for Matt’s permission to continue and wanting him to feel loved and wanted. “Just don’t leave any marks,” Matt said as he pulled Leon closer.

The next day, they were put on a line together and Leon fed Matt a beautiful pass, staying true to his promise. But to his surprise, Matt passed the puck back to him to feed a goal. Leon shot it and scored pointing back to Matt. “Fuck you,” Leon said as Matt laughed settling back into their normal, comfortable teasing. They skated back to the bench and for a moment, Leon saw how their life could play out working and living side by side into the future. 

“So how was it out there playing with Matt?” A reporter asked after the fact. This was Leon’s redemption. He glanced over to Matt who was involved in his own line of questioning with reporters.

Leon smiled, “I liked it, too bad he’s a Flame, but I wouldn’t mind having him on my team once a year.”

The reporters took it as a joke, but Leon knew that when Matt saw it, he’d know what Leon had meant, even if it was just between the two of them.   


**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing them so it's not perfect, I'm hoping to write more about these two because I've really started to love this pairing. If you have any requests for things you'd like to read let me know and feel free to stop by tumblr @queenofbroadstreet


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